Russia's first lunar mission in almost five decades ended in disappointment after the Luna-25 spacecraft crash into the Moon's surface.
Luna-25 was expected to touch down on the Moon's south pole on Monday, joining a global race among major nations to investigate this region, believed to house frozen water and valuable elements.
"Efforts on August 19 and 20 to re-establish communication with the craft were unsuccessful".
"According to the preliminary assessment, due to the deviation of the actual impulse (thrust) parameters from the calculated ones, the craft went into an unintended orbit and ceased its functions upon impact with the Moon's surface. A task force has been set up to investigate the loss of Luna," Russia's state space corporation, Roscosmos, said in a statement on Sunday.
The update comes after Roscosmos reported on Saturday an "abnormal situation" on the craft preventing the mission control from guiding Luna-25 into its pre-landing orbit at 11:10 GMT ahead of a planned touchdown slated for Monday.
The craft, approximately the size of a small car, had plans to work for a year on the Moon's south pole. This region has recently garnered attention from global space agencies like NASA, which identified traces of frozen water in the craters, a discovery that could reshape lunar expeditions by facilitating prolonged human stays and enabling lunar resource extraction.
With Luna-25's crash, Russia lost the competition to India, whose Chandrayaan-3 mission is still on course to land on the same lunar region this week. In the broader scope, both China and the U.S. also have significant moon mission plans.
The setback for Luna-25, the first Russian craft to enter the Moon's orbit since 1976, highlights Russia's diminishing dominance in space and advanced technology since its triumphant Cold War-era achievements, such as launching the Earth's first satellite, Sputnik 1, in 1957, and sending the first human, Yuri Gagarin, into space in 1961.
